The 2024 Paris Olympics are finally here! Yesterday we saw the Opening Ceremony with LeBron James making history being the first Men’s Basketball player to be USA’s flag bearer, and today the Men’s Basketball games begin. Team USA is as star studded as ever with some of the greatest players in the NBA on this team giving them a legit chance to be on par (at least talent wise) with the Dream team and the Redeem team. They might have more competition than those two teams did as the world has definitely caught up with the United States. Whether it be Giannis, Jokic, or Wemby other teams have legit superstars on their side as well, but obviously the expectation is still a Gold medal as they have won 16 of 20 Gold medals since the sport initially debuted as a medal competition in 1936. Let’s get into this year’s Olympic roster, Team USA’s schedule, which kicks off tomorrow at 11:15 am EST, and which teams will be the biggest threat to Team USA.
Team USA's Roster
The collection of superstars on Team USA are always incredible. This year is finally the year Stephen Curry makes his Olympic debut, along with fellow first timers Joel Embiid, Anthony Edwards, Derrick White (Kawhi Leonard’s surprising replacement), and Tyrese Haliburton (not counting FIBA games). This team is not lacking experience though. They’re led by LeBron James and Kevin Durant who are both playing in their fourth Olympic games (LeBron with two Gold medals, KD with three), but the team’s experience isn’t limited to just them. Anthony Davis won gold in 2012, and Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, and Bam Adebayo were all part of the team that won Gold in the 2020 Olympic games (played in 2021). The only question with this roster is who’s going to start and play the most. Head Coach Steve Kerr has already said that LeBron, Steph, and Embiid are locks for the starting lineup and they have been experimenting with who will fill out the rest of the lineup. Kevin Durant would be a likely addition to the lineup if he were healthy, but he has been out with a calf strain for each of their five exhibition games and just started practicing on Wednesday. He will likely end up in the starting lineup but begin the games off the bench as he works back from his injury. That leaves Jrue Holiday and Jayson Tatum as the likely starters, each starting two of the exhibition games while having complimentary games to LeBron, Steph, and Embiid. The bench would then be headlined by Anthony Edwards, Anthony Davis, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant (when healthy). They along with Bam and Halliburton should be able to dominate other team’s second units, giving the team no obvious weaknesses.
Schedule
The Schedule is broken up into two phases, with the first phase (which started today) being group play, where 12 teams are broken into three groups (A, B, and C). Team USA is in Group C along with Serbia, South Sudan, and Puerto Rico. Each team plays each other member of their group over the next week. Team USA will be playing Serbia on July 28th at 11:15 am, South Sudan on July 31st at 3 pm, and finally against Puerto Rico on August 3rd 11:15 am (all times EST). The top two teams of each group and the two best third place teams will then move on to a single-elimination eight-team tournament where Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals will be determined. The Quarter Finals will be played on August 6th, the Semifinals on August 8th, and the Bronze and Gold medal games played on August 10th. Team USA’s games will be on the USA channel, but you can watch all of the Olympic basketball games on Peacock (if you still have your subscription from the random NFL playoff game they had exclusive rights to).
Competition
As I mentioned the twelve teams are broken into three groups with Team USA being joined by Serbia, South Sudan, and Puerto Rico in Group C. The other groups are Group A comprised of Australia, Canada, Greece, and Spain, and Group B comprised of Germany, Japan, France, and Brazil. Again, each team will face each of the other three teams in its group and then the best eight records will move on to the Elimination round. Each team has at least one current or former NBA player so let’s get into the best players on each team.
Group A
Australia: Dante Exum, Patty Mills, Josh Giddey, Joe Ingles, Josh Green, and Matthew Dellavedova.
Canada: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, RJ Barett, Lu Dort, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Kelly Olynyk, and Dwight Powell.
Greece: Former MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Georgios Papagiannis.
Spain: Juan Hernangomez, Willy Hernangomez, and Santi Aldama.
Group B
Brazil: Raul Neto, Cristiano Felicio, and Gui Santos.
France: Victor Wembanyama, Nicolas Batum, Frank Ntilikina, Evan Fournier, and Rudy Gobert.
Germany: Mo Wagner, Franz Wagner, Daniel Theis, and Dennis Shroder.
Japan: Rui Hachimura, and Yuta Watanabe.
Group C
Serbia: Former MVP Nikola Jokic, Nikola Jovic, Vasilije Micic, and Bogdan Bogdanovic.
South Sudan: Wenyen Gabriel, Marial Shayok, JT Thor, and Carlik Jones.
Puerto Rico: Jose Alvarado.
The early favorites outside of the US would have to be Canada, France, Greece, and Serbia. Canada’s team is exceptionally deep and after last season’s breakout of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he proved he is capable of carrying an offense. Pairing his exceptional offensive ability with Jamal Murray’s late game scoring and the defense of Lu Dort and Nickeil Alexander-Walker gives them a scary combination of star power and complementary talent. Greece doesn’t have a very deep roster, at least in terms of NBA talent, but are we really going to count out a player as dominant as Giannis? The Greek Freak is too good to underestimate. Serbia, similar to Greece, has one superstar player, as Nikola Jokic is the best passer in the world and has a game made for Olympic play. Unlike Greece, however, Serbia has real NBA talent surrounding their superstar. Bogdan Bogdanovic and his incredible shooting should be a great fit with the Joker, making them the other team likely of making it out of Group C. Finally, I am expecting the French to win Silver this year as Wemby has the potential to be the best player in the NBA very soon, and these Olympic games will give us a chance to see how much his game has grown in his first offseason. He is also joined by 3x DPOY Rudy Gobert, and two versatile shooters in Evan Fournier and Nicolas Batum. They have the size to match up with anyone, and with as good as Wemby is, they could legitimately threaten team USA. Those four teams have the best chance to beat Team USA, but the game is not played on paper, and like NCAA’s March Madness crazy things are bound to happen in a single elimination basketball tournament.
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